Friday, November 13, 2015

Nest

Ospreys are magnificent birds of prey that nest on the Outer Banks. I recently came across this nest, high in the crotch of a dead tree between Island Creek and Old Hammock Creek. No ospreys were to be seen. I wondered why.

Then I came across the following explanation on the Internet.

According to "Wildlife in North Carolina," September/October, 2012, Volume 76, Number 1, published by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, North Carolina. Department of Conservation and Development, Division of Game and Inland Fisheries, "one of the most
successful birds of prey on
Earth, ... show [the] incredible behavior of returning to
their natal homes. Upon migrating south in
the fall, the ospreys that call the Outer Banks
home will undertake their journey to Central
America at break-neck speeds. Once arriving
in places such as Venezuela, that year’s fledglings will then spend the next two years of
their lives in the tropics where they mature."